Hawkes Bay power pricing

IS FIXIE RIGHT FOR YOU?

FIXIE Plan

Looking for a fixed power price and more predictable bills? Pay a steady, fixed rate for six months at a time, with FIXIE. You'll still get supply costs - that’s metering and transmission charges, plus the Electricity Authority levy - at the wholesale rate, while your spot price stays fixed.

In Hawke's Bay we've set the generation price at 7.80c per kWh. There's also a small 0.15c per kWh FIXIE fee, and all the other fees that are involved in your kWh charges. These are all below.

Freestyle Plan

Happy to work with variable pricing and bills week to week? With Freestyle, you've got access to wholesale power prices, which change every 30 minutes. Monitor the live spot price, use electricity when it costs you less, and reap the rewards! Freestylers saved an average $495 in the past 2 years (Dec 2018).

Over the last 12 months, the average spot price in Hawke's Bay was 11.61c per kWh (Mar 2018 - Feb 2019). Your kWh price is made up of the spot price, plus other charges, that can be found below.

Prices are changing from 1 April 2019

At Flick we pass through all of the costs of delivering electricity to your door, so you’re always paying the true cost of supply. We then charge a small fee to be your retailer.

You may already know each year around April network companies update their pricing. The good news is that effective from April 1st 2019, Unison has let us know that their lines charges will be will be going down this year! At the same time there will be a small increase to our Flick Fee, this will be going up by 5% for the average customer - this change will add around 25 cents per week to their bill. These changes are detailed in the 2019 full price schedules above.

There's no such thing as a silly question

Questions? We've got answers

We made the call not to include GST when we started out because most other power retailers don't include GST in their pricing, and we wanted to make our pricing easy to compare with theirs. We reckon this will help you make the best decision for you.

To calculate the price including GST, simply add 15% to the price we provide.

What does 'Uncontrolled', 'Controlled', 'Inclusive' etc mean?

Different households within the same network region will have different meter types and set-ups, which may have different pricing structures. You may have more than one meter in your home, and not all meter types listed will apply to your network region.

An Uncontrolled meter is one that is not controlled in any way by your network company.

A Controlled or Controlled Load meter is one that can be remotely controlled (switched on and off) by your network company, usually for hot water or underfloor heating. Controlled meters tend to be secondary meters - you're unlikely to have ONLY a Controlled meter in your home. Your metering company may charge different rates depending on how long you have access to your Controlled meter.

An Inclusive or Residential All Inclusive meter is a single meter that can be partially controlled, usually for hot water or underfloor heating - think of it as both an Uncontrolled and Controlled meter rolled into one, but through a single meter rather than two.

A Night meter is a Controlled meter for hot water or underfloor heating that can only be used overnight and possibly during 'boost' hours (specified off-peak hours). Your metering company may charge different rates depending on whether you have boost hours available to you, and for how long.

A Day / Night meter is a single uncontrolled meter that records usage information by day and night, so your network company may charge different rates for electricity used during the day versus during the night.

An Inclusive Day / Night setup means you have two meters: an Uncontrolled meter for the house, and a Controlled meter for hot water or underfloor heating. Both record usage information by day and night.

An Uncontrolled meter with Separate Control or Uncontrolled & Controlled setup means you have two meters: an Uncontrolled meter for the house, and a Controlled meter for hot water or underfloor heating. Your metering company may charge different rates depending on how long you have access to your Controlled meter - for example 16 or 20 hours a day.

An Uncontrolled meter with Separate Night or Uncontrolled & Night setup means you have two meters: an Uncontrolled meter for the house, and a Controlled meter for hot water or underfloor heating that can only be used overnight and possibly during 'boost' hours (specified off-peak hours). Your metering company may charge different rates depending on whether you have boost hours available to you, and for how long.

A Smart Plan or Time Of Use meter is a single uncontrolled meter with variable network rates that change depending on the time of day, for example during peak or off-peak hours.

A Smart Plan & Controlled or Time Of Use & Controlled meter is a single meter that can be partially controlled, and has variable network rates that change depending on the time of day.

How do I know what type of meter I have?

The easiest way to know which meter type or set-up applies to you is by taking a look at recent power bill for your property - you should be able to see the meter type you have been charged for.

If you're moving into a new place or you don't have a power bill handy, you can give us a call on 0800 435 425 and we'll let you know.

Why are some meter types charged a fixed daily fee, but others aren't?

Generally, the primary meter in your household will be charged a daily fixed fee, but you won't be charged an additional fee for any secondary, controlled meters you might have.

How do I know if I'm a Standard or Low user?

The Standard User plan:

Has a higher daily charge, but a lower charge per kWh used, so if you’re using lots of electricity, the lower unit charge balances things out. If you’re living North of Christchurch and using more than 8,000 units a year you’re generally better off on a Standard User plan. Further south, the threshold is 9,000 units a year. The sorts of situations we’d expect of Standard Users include households of more than two people who are home a lot and use a lot of electricity for heating and hot water, or large flats. Heating methods more than anything will contribute to higher usage. Heaters used constantly, like panel or oil heaters, underfloor heating, uninsulated hot water cylinders, and heated swimming/spa pools all contribute to higher usage.

The Low User plan:

A Low User plan is generally suited to people using less electricity than average. It’s designed so that the fixed rate is no more than 30 cents a day but the unit rate is higher, which means if you don’t use much electricity you’ll pay less than you would on a Standard User plan. If you’re living North of Christchurch and are using 8,000 units or less a year you’re classed as a low user. Once again, further south and the threshold increases to 9,000 units per year. Low Users tend to be households of one or two people living in well insulated, energy efficient houses and/or homes with gas heating or hot water.

Secondary meters:

You're only eligible to be on a Low User plan for your primary residence. That means holiday homes, secondary properties or second meters (for a shed, gate or pool pump, for example) are always classified as standard user ICPs, even if they only use a small amount of electricity. This is enforced at the network company level and is the same for all power companies.

How do you calculate a Freestyle price, if the spot price changes every 30 minutes?

To calculate an estimated price of what you might expect to pay on Freestyle, we take all of the known costs that make up your bill (excluding GST), then calculate the average spot price for your region over the past ten years to Sept 2018, and add this to the known costs.

Although this gives a good indication of what you can expect to pay on Freestyle long term, short term conditions can cause the spot price to deviate significantly from the long term average.